The First Competent Henchman
by The95will
Summary: AU: Need help when you need to rob a bank? Need to get an edge to blow up a highway in order to a building named after you? Do you need some bodies to stall heroes trying to stop your plans? Call the Ascendancy Prospect Henchmen Co. and our henchmen will accommodate your needs to put up a fight against YOUR rival or hero group! Please contact your local Information Broker!


Illima City late evening.

"Mwahahaha!" A man in a skin-tight purple outfit with a customized motorcycle helmet cackled and looked over at his group of henchmen. "Shifty cannot stop me!"

"Yes, sir." A man in a purple trench coat nodded while they stood inside a vacant warehouse. There were other various men dressed in black shirts, pants, and purple trench coats with purple ski masks, which were part of the dress code. Six henchmen walked around the room and mentally prepared themselves for the upcoming clash.

"Shifty doesn't stand a chance!" The Beholder snickered. "Once I beat him, the other heroes will have to come after me!"

As the villain started to monologue to himself, the lead henchman rolled his eyes as he turned around with his hands in his pockets. In his right hand, there was a small locket as he rubbed his thumb on top of it. Inside his chest, his heart started to slow down, and he then looked at the rest of the henchmen.

The wide-open space of the building made it possible to move shipping containers in a storage space of a dockyard. What had happened, is the lead henchman and about a six others positioned themselves to guard the Beholder and a crystal container which gave the Superhero Shifty his powers. As well as a duffle bag beside it if it needed to be carried out.

Extensive plans are outlined to ensure the mission will be successful; the two dozen henchmen are positioned at potential entrances and patrol the dockyard. Six more to patrol inside the building, four henchmen handle the security cameras, and the remaining six were already beside the Beholder. One of these henchmen, on the other hand, did not count himself with the others; his job was to manage them.

At twenty-eight years old, Jaune Manyard Arc was the lead henchman. Currently building a private firm of able-bodied henchmen ready to assist villains at a moment's notice. As a strict personal rule, Jaune worked with villains not capable of achieving absolute destruction like nuclear weapons. While at the same time, not work with supervillains because they usually kill henchmen in the crossfire. The Beholder happens to be a guy in a suit aiming to impress other villains by taunting a hero.

Jaune had a mental category system for threats: The different kinds of heroes that a henchman must know how to deal with. That being wannabes, vigilantes, and superheroes.

To Jaune, he usually felt sorry for Wannabes. A Wannabes is someone who grew up watching too much TV or read too many comic books that spark fascination and a lust to _become_ a hero. Wannabe heroes not intelligent enough to survive at being a hero. More often than not, critically unprepared or do something that gets them in trouble or worse, killed. In the previous month, one of Jaune's men discovered a costumed young man trapped in an air vent. Air vents are never human-sized.

After that, there are Vigilantes. Self-righteous sociopaths who would instead maim or kill henchmen because such _heroes_ assign guilt by association alongside their target. About half the time in Jaune's experience, Vigilantes possess military training and use guns to shoot henchmen on sight. Jaune did not think of them as unable to tell right from wrong, but more the lack of consciousness they behave toward henchmen.

Then some heroes have Superpowers. They tend to be the kind that does not consider the amount of damage they pull off on the environment. Like breaking walls, buildings, using cars like baseballs. It would mean that any henchman worth his salt would be required to fight a superhero, regardless of how hopeless it would be in the first place. The thing about Superheroes is they either have an obsession with their power being linked to good intentions, a desire to solve the world's problems. Or treat the power like a drug, a way to gain an edge over other people. Jaune wanted to spit at the thought but couldn't because of his uniform's mask.

Jaune blinked several times then looked at one of his men.

"Hey, come here." Jaune gently waved his hand to come closer.

The young henchman flinched and immediately approached Jaune. From there, Jaune used his hands to turn him around. Several tugs pull and physically moving a metal plate to align in its big pocket. The young henchman could immediately feel his body armor was tighter and did not discomfort his posture. He turned around to Jaune.

"Your straps were put on backward, Russel." Jaune lightly patted the young henchman's shoulders.

From there, Jaune nodded and paced around the perimeter of the room then later left to patrol the rest of the building.

Russel confusingly turned to his closest co-worker Cardin.

"Hey, um, is the boss always like that?" Russel pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Jaune. "Not the whack job, but our _real_ boss."

"Oh, him? Yeah. It's been that way since I got here." Cardin reeked of cigarette smoke and positioned his right palm over his mouth above his ski mask. Cardin moved his hand way once he finished pondering his response. "It's been that way for two years now."

"Seriously?" Russel's raised his shoulders and tilted his head forward.

Cardin hummed back, "Mhm, do you have any idea how bad it was to be a henchman?"

Another henchman named Sky with a sub-machine gun eavesdropped on the conversation. "There were some heroes so bad, they would break your bones and sometimes leave you to hang in high places! I knew a guy who the cops dropped and broke a different henchman's ankles."

"Oh, that's nothing!" A fourth henchman named Dove chimed into the conversation. "You guys should have seen Mon Brick four years ago. He would come in and beat henchmen with a brick! A freaking brick! That's how I lost my front teeth! The monster would attack any who just _looked_ like a criminal."

"By the way, what is the deal with the _Shifty_ guy?" Russel shrugged.

Behind Russel, another henchman named Neptune walked behind him; he had a submachine gun too.

Cardin decided to clarify. "Shifty is a superhero that can teleport a short distance. I think like five to six feet at a time. Making him fast and hard to hit. Some of us think he's got super strength because he can punch through walls. Shifty will be at the end of a hall and then two seconds later. He's got you on the ground and spitting out teeth like a chump…" By the time Cardin said that Dove immediately glared at him. "Oh, sorry."

"Remember the golden rule." Sky patted Russel's shoulder. "We fight to stall, not to win."

Russel's shoulders dropped as he lightly scoffed at himself.

"I heard we might be getting a dental plan in a few months," Sky added.

"That'll be nice." Cardin shook his head. "Heroes… there's no middle ground. It's either delusional clowns or vindicated psychos."

"This is still better than standing in front of an employment office…" Dove stared at the ground.

"Gentlemen." The radios in all of their ears echoed. "Jaune doesn't like it when our men are not paying attention to the client."

The henchmen checked-in through their earpieces, they each raised their wrists to their mouths and immediately got back to work. All of this could be seen on the camera monitors as Oscar stared at the screens. "Morons." A rule when it comes to being a henchman for this particular group. It is that all camera watchers are _never_ allowed to read magazines/books, watch TV, play on their cell phones, and must check in with Jaune every thirty minutes. To reduce the number of distractions, each henchman must rotate out in turns, a set of eyes must be on the cameras at all times. Sloppiness could result in the termination of a contract.

Walking through the building, Jaune made sure to check all the air vents of the location to make sure no one was caught in them. No need to have a wannabe suffocate him or herself to death on accident. Luckily, after ten minutes of checking. All air vents were undisturbed.

Once that was done with, a different thought invaded Jaune's mind. He should check on the medical supplies in case of injuries.

The storage door opened and saw several extended body bags. The light switch turned on, and Jaune kneeled down to inspect the contents.

The thing about becoming a henchman is that it does not demand a person to be linked to a college degree, require ten years of experience, know-how to fight, and age is not a significant factor. Villains have this strange desire to need physical bodies for their inane plans. Whether they succeed or fail.

Jaune opened a body bag, and there was an array of medical equipment. Some bandages, tweezers, alcohol, blood tubing, and stretchers. Along with two ice coolers with ice, blood bags, and plasma. One of the ice chests had a Sunset Sarsaparilla soda can, to which Jaune smiled.

'_KAAASSS KIK_.'

He sipped his drink and then stopped once he looked at the ceiling. Ceiling panels are generally poorly placed in buildings. And this one had a large orange oval shape stain on three panels. What caught Jaune's attention was that _one_ of the panels did not align with the other two.

Immediately Jaune turned around and had a knife to his throat.

"Ack!" Jaune nearly dropped his soda and half spilled out. "…Cinder…"

"Good evening to you too." A woman presumably in her late twenties smirked as she pulled her knife away. "Nice job with security."

The woman had an entirely black and grey infiltration suit with a utility belt around her waist. Athletic and most likely a gymnast from her uncanny ability to climb buildings and avoid security cameras. She was most definitely _not_ a hero but a renowned thief with the alias: Cinder.

Jaune rubbed his neck to search for a wound. "What brings you here? And would you_ please_ go away!?"

"A little bird told me that Shifty lost his phase crystal." Cinder tilted her head. "By the way, by bother with the fences? Shifty can teleport past them."

There is a subcategory that comes to being a henchman. There are sometimes strange but equally dangerous third parties when heroes and villains clash. Cinder appeared several months ago and ruined several contracts with villains by stealing their McGuffins and selling them back to other villains or heroes.

Jaune _hates_ thieves, then he replied to her statement.

"Superheroes love to make an entrance. Might as well give them something, so they feel clever." Jaune's left hand reached for his right wrist and pressed a button on his communicator to alert the dockyard. It was a silent alarm. "Why not bother the Manticore, he wanted to rob the Illima Mint or Sundowner, he's setting up a Museum heist."

Cinder rolled her shoulders back. "Manticoreis too easy to steal from, and Sundowner has that death cult that worships him. They're not as fun as here."

Jaune shook his head and used his free hand, rub his eyelids.

"What throws me for the loop is why don't you just take the crystal for yourself?" Cinder raised an eyebrow.

"What, are you kidding? Who wants powers?" Jaune laughed and moved his hand away from his eyelids. "It means that I would have to work for supervillains. Fighting superpower heroes and I would never live outside a prison cell!"

"But you already fight superheroes." Cinder retorted.

Jaune opened his mouth, raise his left index finger, hesitated to speak, and reeled the finger back. "Well, as a henchman, I can still return to my apartment at the end of the day."

"Not without this, you don't." Cinder raised her left hand and revealed a yellow locket. "Don't make this job too easy for me."

Jaune reached inside his pocket out of instinct while the master thief smiled at his expense.

Jaune lunged forward to grasp at his locket. From there, Cinder swiped her right hand horizontally to jab Jaune's throat. He stumbled forward as Cinder opened the closet door and slammed it shut. The door was immediately jammed with something on the other side. Jaune stumbled against the wall and rubbed his throat. The nerve receptors set off a wildfire of pain for a low and bitter burning sensation.

-Meanwhile, outside in the dockyard-

'_CRACK!'_

A bone cracked a forearm and was split in half under the skin. A henchman wanted to scream, but his mouth was covered then decked in the forehead. From there, a masculine figure in a blue coat, light blue jeans, red baseball, red shoes, and red gloves stood at the edge of the dockyard. A puff of smoke appeared where he once stood as he on the other side of the electrified fence. Another henchman noticed the figure and pressed the alarm button on his communicator.

In the corner of the security camera monitor, the Oscar widened his eyes at the monitor. The figure dashed ahead by five feet, then grabbed the center of the neck of a different henchman, then lifted him into the air and slammed him into the asphalt. Most likely breaking bones in the process.

Oscar's hand scrambled to reach for the radio under his sleeve. "Shifty is here! Shifty is HERE!"

"The route out is as clear as I could make it," Shifty muttered to himself.

On the other side of the building, Jaune could hear the chatter of various henchmen on the radios.

'Great, now a thief and the superhero arrived.' Jaune thought to himself as he heard footsteps approach the closet door. Without hesitation, a metallic bar slid off, and the door opened. "Hey boss, we got trouble."

Jaune grabbed one of the body bags. "Take one outside and inform the coordinator of the location of our men. We got a thief too!"

"Posts 7 and 9 haven't been checking in." Oscar stammered.

"Take a team and check it out. Deploy the hand to hand specialists!" Jaune grumbled as he pointed for the henchman that freed him to reinforce the perimeter guards.

"Already on it!" Oscar replied.

"Remember the drill people! Get the Beholder out of here. We stall, not win!" Jaune shouted as he jogged into the room, which had the Beholder.

"YES!" The Beholder clenched his fist. "Time to prove my worth as a rival!"

"Sir, we have the phase crystal in a duffle bag and a speedboat outside the building for you to escape!" Jaune shouted, then Russel, Cardin, Dove, Neptune, and Sky rallied around their boss.

"What do we do?" Cardin looked left and right.

"First, we get everyone to form pairs and watch each other's backs!" Jaune shouted. As he did so, a wall burst open with debris and dust puffing outward. Shifty's left hand rubbed his right hand's knuckles.

"You have something of mine." Shifty's cold statement sent a shiver down the spine to half of the henchmen in the room.

"Yeah, well, come and get it!" The Beholder sneered back.

Jaune glanced to his left and his right. There, at that moment. Only two of his current henchmen would be willing to fully charge at Shifty. It was a thing that Jaune had to learn the hard way. It's not that henchmen liked to run at heroes one at a time during hand to hand combat. It's just that some henchmen have no clue how to approach a fistfight.

"Okay. Don't fire the guns unless you want Shifty to target you first!" Jaune held his arm out in front of Sky and Neptune.

"Get him!" The Beholder barked.

"Alright, Dove, Russel!" Jaune nodded at the Henchmen closest to him. Dove had a crowbar, and Russel had a baseball bat. "We move, Russel swing that bat high, and Dove, swing your crowbar low. Sky, Neptune, you two fire from left to right. Push Shifty toward us!"

"Yes, sir!" Neptune ticked the safety off his gun.

"Right!" Sky patted himself to remind himself for the extra ammunition on his chest.

"Cardin! You're on reserve stay close to Beholder. Now, let's go!" Jaune shouted as the henchmen frowned under their ski masks and charged forward.

The Superhero merely chuckled as he turned around to look at the unconscious henchman he used to break down the wall. It was the camera guard, Oscar. Luckily for Oscar, the wall was plaster. Sky and Neptune used their guns in a horizontal motion. Shifty had black smoke flash at his location as he sprinted to his left. By that point, both Neptune and Sky needed to reload their guns.

Without the immediate worry of gunfire, Jaune, Cardin, and Russel closed the distance toward Shifty.

Jaune shouted and raised his left arm up to clothesline Shifty. Before his arm touched the Superhero. Jaune lunged forward as Shifty teleported past him. To be in front of Cardin and Russel.

Russel sprinted forward as Shifty stood still, and Cardin stopped 3 feet from Shifty. Shifty kept there like a wall, and Russel ducked in to close the distance. Shifty did not express much emotion as he teleported forward and brought his right leg down like a sickle, Cardin was not prepared for that and was slammed into the ground.

The kick had enough force to knock the wind out of Cardin and rolled over to his side, groaning in pain.

As that happened, Shifty turned to the Sky and Neptune aiming their guns, then kneeled down then sprinted at them. Neptune filled with terror at the warping shadow, fingers twitched at the trigger guard, he couldn't fire yet because Jaune and Russel were in the crossfire behind Shifty. Seeing the danger behind them, and the willpower of his men shaken. Jaune sprinted at Russel and forced him to the ground.

"Now!" Jaune barked.

Neptune opened fire for a second before Shifty's right elbow slammed him like a sledgehammer. Knocking the gun out Neptune's hand, knocked him back, and spun him around until he collapsed to the floor. The world went black and white while Neptune passed out from the pain.

Shifty then leaned forward with a right palm strike then left haymaker at Sky. Launching him back several feet and dropping his gun. Jaune, Russel, and Cardin positioned themselves between Shifty and the Beholder.

There is something about people who work in everyday locations. Fast food places, retail, and customer service, the kind of workers who are forced to put up a smile while they are berated and verbally abused by horrid customers. Instead of handling their stress or carnal pleasure of torturing people unable to lash back. Seeing four henchmen knocked out and reeling on the floor… Jaune's blood boiled.

Jaune's henchmen are _not_ people heroes can take their days out on!

Shifty dashed forward again and used his right fist to power punch the Russel back. He flung back by five feet and slammed against the wall. Russel was hit center mass, the metal plate prevented a bone from cracking, but he was still knocked out. Jaune charged with a crowbar and was mule kicked in the stomach by Shifty, he spat out, dropped his crowbar and stumbled for five steps to his left.

In the ceiling, Cinder smirked at the efficiency and cooperation among the henchmen against the Superhero.

Shifty fixed his posture as he dashed forward, uppercut Cardin in the chest. He had enough strength to partly lift Cardin off his feet. Before he fell to the ground, Shifty grabbed Cardin's ankles and spun him around several times, then let go for him to fall and roll across the ground like a ragdoll.

Jaune shook his head and ignored the pain in his stomach. Jaune dashed and punched Shifty at the back of his head. Once that happened, Shifty slowly turned around. "Well, crap," Jaune grumbled before getting a haymaker to his left side of his head.

Shifty then teleported forward and head-butted Dove.

As that happened, Jaune rolled to his stomach and then crawled forward as Dove fell to his knees. The Beholder gave a short spiel about how he will soon be the villain that all heroes will fear or whatever. So instead, Jaune grabbed the duffle bag beside the crate and shoved the phase crystal container inside. As he did so, the remaining henchmen Oscar alerted appeared after fourteen seconds of the ass-kicking Shifty dished out.

"Go long!" Jaune shouted, then hurled the duffle bag across the room. Henchmen burst into the room with guns and blunt weapons. Four henchmen sprinted and stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the Beholder. Strangely enough, a small object fell out of the ceiling as Jaune looked up, and a ceiling panel shifted in place.

He grabbed the object.

"Remember, everyone. Hold Shifty Off!" Jaune repeated into his communicator as he got to his feet. His nose was bloody, and his left eye was black. Three more joined him as Shifty had seven henchmen stand in his way between them and the Beholder.

Jaune grabbed the Beholder by the nape of his neck with his left hand and used his right hand to grab the Beholder's right arm. Protectively positioning the Beholder from any damage from Shifty. It took ten seconds to get outside with the duffle bag of the crystal. He looked at his right hand and realized he was just given a gift.

Eventually, Shifty broke out of the building and teleported out the warehouse. Just fifty feet ahead, the Beholder, Jaune, and three remaining henchmen reached the speed boat. Jaune turned around and took hold of the object he got. It was a small flash bomb that emits a constant amount of light for several seconds. When it was used, Jaune shielded his eyes but felt his shoulder tug as the duffle bag was removed from his shoulder with little resistance.

The Beholder tripped backward and landed inside the speedboat. From there, the remaining henchmen blasted off to escape the dockyard. All the while, Jaune watched from the shipyard as the speedboat's blue rear lights shimmered off into the distance.

Shifty turned to Jaune. "Not bad." As Shifty then teleported out of the dockyard. Although Shifty could remain at the shipyard and then clobber them one more time for the cops. Shifty was not supposed to let other legitimate heroes know he is going to need to make a new phase crystal to hold over until he gets the first one back. He does not want the Raccoon Man to investigate the problem.

At the same time, behind a shipping container, Cinder excitedly looked inside the duffle bag for her reward of the heist. Only to discover that it was an embroiled metal water bottle that had no phase crystal!

-Meanwhile on the Speedboat-

"Why did I ever hire you morons!?" The Beholder complained at the Speedboat driver. To which a henchman in the passenger seat slammed his fist into the middle of the boat. To which, it cracked open and inside. It was the phrase crystal. After that, the Beholder laughed then cackled for several minutes. As he got both his Skytory of escaping Shifty and keep the object he stole.

-Back at the Dockyard-

Cinder angrily threw the duffle bag to the wind as she reached into her pocket to take a look at the locket she lifted off of Jaune. It certainly felt like cheap metal, but there has to be something valuable in it!

She messed with the locket for a while, until it popped open as she stopped moving and stared at what was inside it…

Ten minutes later…

Jaune was ecstatic to learn that more than half of his men were in good condition, and the worse of the injuries were several broken bones and bruises… At least they did not get a vigilante…

They didn't have helmets or many guns for tonight. Jaune was content to remind himself he did not need to use the body bags this time.

Jaune walked into the warehouse and looked at the number of men eager to remove their ski masks. The smiling faces and excitement to not be battered or maimed. Cardin's hand shook violently for several minutes as he glanced at Jaune.

"I didn't think we could have pulled it off without your help, boss," Cardin admitted. The rest of the men noticed Jaune's black eye and dried blood underneath his nose. One of the henchmen gave him an icepack.

Upon the stretchers collected and the medical treatment being given out. Russel woke up and had a square-shaped bruise on his chest. But luckily for him, Shifty did not hit him hard enough to break bones underneath the metal plate.

The camera guards were congratulated by the rest of the henchmen group. And they received a phone call that the Beholder successfully escaped and was on the other side of the lake with his phase crystal.

With a job well done, that meant the Jaune and his employees were going to get the second half of their payment!

Something was fulfilling from the number of happy faces regardless of the bruises, cuts, grumbling under pain, and scrapes from Shifty. Jaune reached into his pocket and greeted with nothing. He mumbled in annoyance and then decided to get outside for some fresh air. Oscar, Dove, Sky, and Neptune grouped together.

"Well, that was something," Oscar mumbled while rubbing his back.

Dove sighed and lifted his ski mask up to show his face. "Now, I can make rent this month."

"Can one of you give me a ride back to the train station? I think I can still make the last one home." Neptune asked.

"Don't worry, I'll take you the whole way. Let's get back to headquarters, and I will drive you." Oscar's thumbs pressed on both sides below the bridge of his nose until it _CRACKED_ in place. "Can someone pass me some ice?"

Before Oscar turned around, Sky walked to him with an ice pack.

-Outside, 10 minutes later-

Jaune patrolled the dockyard as the evacuation vans arrived to get all his men together. The leader took the time to just sit down on a small concrete stool. Admiring that tonight. There will be no arrests or dead loved ones to report… Jaune closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

"Hey." A feminine voice called out behind Jaune. Still, with an icepack over his right eye, he sheepishly turned around, expecting a kick or a punch. Cinder walked beside the henchman and sat beside him. "Here."

Before Jaune could object, Cinder held her hand out with the yellow locket in her palm. "I think you need this."

Jaune lowered his ice pack and took the locket. He glanced at the locket and to the ground. Even though he did not look at the locket. By muscle memory, it popped open. In the orange light of the dockyard. There was a photo of an elderly woman standing beside a younger Jaune. Half of his face was cropped out of the picture. And there was a small message on the other side of the locket. 'I love you, grandson.'

Cinder sat down and remained several feet away from Jaune. "I thought it was a USB stick or something that would disable the rest of your security."

Jaune nodded and closed the locket. "You can already tell it's from my grandma." Jaune did not turn to face Cinder. Usually, thieves do not concern themselves about their targets. That was what Jaune experienced with thieves.

"Can I ask you something?" Cinder looked over the dockyard. In the distance, several henchmen loaded into several vans and drove off. "Why do you stay as a henchman for villains?"

"Funny. Not what I expected to hear tonight." Jaune pressed his icepack over his eye. "I did it to earn cash for my grandmother for some medical treatments. That and I am not particularly good at anything else."

"Okay, Mr. Melodramatic." Cinder stood up. "Don't tell me."

"It's because I know what it's like." Jaune turned to the thief. "I know what it is like to be so desperate to risk the chance of being killed by so-called _heroes_. The broken bones, the muscle pains, dying, or being arrested for some lame schemes or vendettas. Not knowing how to fight, shoot a gun, or pretend to look tough. After a while, I grew tired of seeing a few dozen people become crippled physically or monetarily. Maybe, there needs to be someone on their side. You know?"

"Whose?"

"You've seen them! The henchmen. Everyone sees them as scum, moronic, and the worse of, the worse. Half the time, they don't know what kind of danger they could get into. Being a henchman automatically someone no longer human or an outlet to inflict pain." Jaune's left hand grasped his locket. "That's why I stick around."

Cinder snickered.

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh."

"No, it's not that. I guess that explained the body bags and the medical supplies? Or the level of focus for the others." Cinder offered her hand to help Jaune to his feet. Hesitantly, Jaune accepted the offer. "That's what makes your company so much fun. I have to try harder as a thief."

"Thanks for the compliment." Jaune could hear the sirens and see the glimmer of police lights approach the dockyard. "Next time, I need to make it boring. So you'll stop showing up." "I doubt that." Cinder and Jaune stared at the former battleground for the local heroes.

As the henchman stood there, he felt a small amount of warmth press against his left cheek. Shaking his head for a moment, Cinder nodded at Jaune. "You better get out of here. Your _henchmen_ need you."

From there, the two parted ways. Jaune was able to get back to his apartment. After several days of resting and getting the right amount of health care sorted out for the wounded henchmen. A suspicious email arrived in Jaune's email account. It was a heavily detailed analysis of the current flaws that exist within his company's conduit when working for the Beholder. As well as a contract from a new villain requesting help. Jaune looked at his locket beside his laptop.

The cursor on the computer monitor hovered above the button... "accept."


End file.
